Circuit-interrupter



J. N. MA'HONEY AND W.-M. AUSTIN. CIRCUIT INTERRUPTER. APPLICATION men MAY'T. 1911.

1,386,010. Patented Aug. 2, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET L WITNESSE I INVENTORS Joseph N Mahoneyd M $14M? Wa/fer M. flusf/n J. 'N. MAHONEY AND W M. AUSTIN.

CIRCUIT INTERRUPIER. "APPLICATION FILED MAY7. 1911.

Patented Aug. 2,1921.

SSHEETS-SHEET 2- 5 H R .N OQUVJ 7R m0. I. m E0... .T V. 5 .A W00 M M m W WITNESSES J. N. MAHONEY AND W. M. AUSTIN.

CIRCUIT INTERRUPTER. APPLICATION FILED MAY7.1917.

L 2 aw Y. H a M y M H O m H R 2, m w o S T a; wms .m M H m M m w N. M m 6 2% nm 7 am J M w F 6 I t. lll q wl n l a m 3 J S 6 m 8 m 3 1 Circuit-Interrupters, of

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH N. MAHONEY, OF WILKINSIBURG, AND WALTER M. AUSTIN,

OF SWISSVALE,

- PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC AND MANUFACTUR- ING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CIRCUIT-INTERRUPTER.

Application filed May 7, 1917. Serial No. 167,085.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOSEPH N. MAHONEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Wilkinsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, and WALTER M. AUSTIN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Swissvale in the county of Allegheny and State of lennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in which the followin%is a specification.

ur invention relates to circuit interrupters and particularly to multi-pole interrupters the poles of which are adapted to be closed in sequence.

One object of our invention is to provide a multi pole circuit interrupter that shall have means whereby predetermined poles cannot be closed until another predetermined pole has been closed.

Another object of our invention is to provide a circuit interrupter of the above indicated character that shall be simple to construct and effective in its operation.

We provide a three-pole individual-handle interrupter having'a common trip bar. The cam member of one of the poles that is ordinarily used to effect simultaneous; tripping is replaced by a cam member of such shape that it cooperates with its operating handle when its pole is open to hold the trip bar in such position thatthe other poles cannot be latched in their closed position so long as the first mentioned pole is open. By this arrangement, the sequential closing of the poles is obtained and the danger incident to using individual handle interrupters on three-Wire circuits is obviated.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevational view, with parts broken away, of a three-pole circuit interrupter embodying our invention; Fig. 2 is a lower plan view of the interrupter shown in Fig.

1; Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views of the latching and tripping mechanisms in the closed and open positions,respectively, of two of the poles of the interrupter shown in Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 5 is a side elevational view, with parts broken away, of themiddle pole of the interrupter shown in Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 6 is a detail view of the latching and tripping mechanisms of the middle pole of the interrupter shown in F i .1, 2, and Figs. 7 and 8 are detail views of t e cam member shown in Figs. 5'and 6; Fig. 9 is an end elevational view of the armature of the tripping mechanism and Fig. 10 is a front view of terminal and core members embodied in the circuit interrupter of our invention.

The interrupter 1 comprises three poles 2, 3 and 4 having individual operating handles 5, 6 and 7, respectively, and a coImnon trip bar 8. The'poles' 2, 3 and 4 are mounted on a panel board 9 and severally comprise stationarymain contact members 10 and 11, stationary arcing contact members 12 and stationary tertiary contact members 13. Movable bridging adapted to engage the corresponding stationary contact members 10 and 11 and are mounted on arms 15 that are pivotally mounted by pins 15 on bracket members 21 and also severally adapted to carry an arcing contact member 16 and a movable tertiary contact member 17. Movable members 18 that are operatively connected to the movable members 15 by springs 19 are mounted on pins 20 that are secured to the bracket members 21. .The members 18 are severally provided with cam surfaces 22 that are adapted to be engaged by roller members 23 which are mounted on one arm of the respective operating handles 5, 6 and 7. Springs 24 are operatively connected between each of the members 18 and another arm 25 of each of the operating handles, and a third arm 26 is'adapted to cooperate with a latch member 27 that is pivotally mounted on a pin 28 to latch the contact members of the several poles in their closed position.

The pin 28 is mounted between the brackets 21 of each pole and supports an armature 29 that is normally retained in one position by the cooperation of gravity and a weight member 30. The armature 29 is adapted to be attracted, under predetermined overload conditions, by a stationary core member 31 of substantially inverted U-shape which surrounds the stationary contact member 11 and to be assisted in its movement by the weight 30. As shown more clearly in Fig. 10, the core member 31 is of substantially inverted U-shape and surrounds the lower main contact member 11 on three sides; When sufficient current passes through the member 11, a magnetic flux is set up around the core member and through the armature 29, thus contact members 14: are

Patented Aug. 2, 1921.

attracting the latter. The armature 29 is provided with a projection 32 that is adapted to engage a projection 33 on the member 27 for the purpose of effecting the clockwise movement of the member 27 to thereby release the same from the arm 26 of the operating lever arm. hen thus released, the lever arm is moved in the counter-clockwise direction, carrying the roller 23 with it. The latter moves to the bottom portion of the cam surface 22 to permit the member 18 to move in the clockwise direction about its pivot pin 20. This moves the contact members 14, 17 and 16 out of engagement with their respective stationary cooperating contact members 10 and 11, 13 and 12.

The armature 29 is also provided with a depending flange 43 having a sloping lower edge is for cooperation with a slidable block 45. The latter is disposed above a plate 46 extending transversely, and secured by screws 47 to the bottom edges, of the bracket members 21. The block at?) is provided with a thumb nut 48 having a shank portion that extends through a slot a9 in the plate 46. By loosening the nut 4 the block may be adjusted laterally in the slot l9, in doing which it engages the sloping edge as of the flange 43. This permits the armature 29 to be adjusted with respect to the core member 31 and constitutes means whereby the interrnpter may be calibrated to trip at any one of several predetermined overloads,

The common trip bar 8 of all the poles is supported by members 34: that are also mounted on the pins 28 and which are provided with projections 36 for engaging the projection 33 on the member 27 when the trip bar 8 is manually moved toward the panel board 9.

The members 34-. of the poles 2 and i severally have a projection 36 that has pivotally mounted thereon a cam member 37, as shown in Figs. 3 and l, and the member 34L ot the pole 3 is provided with a projection 36 that has a cam member 38 mounted thereon. The projections 36 are provided with stops 39 to preclude the rotative movement of the cam members 37 and 38 more than a predetermined distance in a clockwise direction. The cam member 38 is secured to the member 34L of the pole 3 by a pin or screw 50 and constitutes an extension of the projection 36 that may or may not be permitted of counter-clockwise movement. This construction permits the employment of similar members 34: on all of the poles instead of constructing a special member 34: for the pole 3 having the cam member 38 integral or otherwise secured thereto.

If it is desired to close the pole 3 first, its operating handle 6 is moved downwardly and the roller 23 will so engage the cam surface 22 as to move the contact members into operative engagement. The arm 26 011 the handle 6 is provided with a projection i0 that engages the surface ll of the cam member 38 and, since the cam member 38 cannot move relatively to the projection 36 in a clockwise direction, it moves the trip bar 8 in a clockwise direction until the projection 40 passes over the point 12 of "the cam member 38 and assumes a position as shown in Fig. of the drawings. Since the projection 40 is out of engagement with the cam member 38, when this position is reached, the trip bar 8 will drop back under the force of gravity to its normal position and latch member 27 will engage the arm 26 to hold the pole 3 in its closed position. hen the pole 3 is in its closed position, the handles 5 and 7 may be actuated to close the poles 2 and 4:. lVhen the poles 2 and at are in their closed positions, the projections &0 on the arms 26 oi" the handle members 5 and 7, respectively, will assume a position substantially as shown in Fig. I) of the drawings and the latch members 27 will engage the arms 26 to retain the poles 2 and 1- in their closed positions. That is, while the poles 2 and 4; are being closed the projection 40 so rides over the surface of the cam member 37 as to turn the same in a counter clockwise direction relative to the projection 36 until the member 40 passes over the upper edge of the same. Since the cam members 37 are free to turn in a counter clockwise direction, the tripping bar 8 will not be actuated when the poles 2 and i are closed.

If an overload traverses any one of the poles 2, 3 and 4i, the respective armature 29 will be drawn upwardly and the projection 32 will engage the projection 33 of the latch member 27 to release the respective arm 26 on the handle member. As the force 01 the springs 19 and 24; move the contact members out of engagement, the handle member oi the pole that is traversed by the overload will move in a counter-clockwise direction andthe projection 40 will so engage the cam member 37 asto turn the member and, since the cam member engages the stop 39, the trip bar 8 will be turned in a clockwise direction. hen the trip bar 8 and, consequently, the members 34: of the other two poles, have been turned a predetermined distance, the projection 35 will engage the projection 33 on the latch 27 and thus release the other two poles of the interrupter.

WVhen the pole 3 is tripped, the member ill will travel over the face 41 of the cam member 38 and, in so doing, will cause the trip bar 8, and consequently, since the cam member 38 engages the stop 39, the member 34 to be moved in a. clockwise direction to a position substantially as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. Since, in this position, the projection 35 on the member 34 of the pole 3 so engages the project-ion 33 on its latch member .27 that the latch members 27 of the open poles 2 and 4 are maintained in their tripped position, when the handles 5 and 7 of the poles 2 and 4 are moved to their closed positions, the projection 26 will not engage the latch 27 and thus the poles 2 and 4 can- ,not be latched in their closed position so lon as the pole 3 is in its open position.

hen all of the poles are in their closed positions, if it is desired to manually trip the interrupter, the trip bar 8 is moved in a clockwise direction to cause the projection 35 on the member 34 to engage the member 33 on the latch member 27 and thus cause the latch member 27 to be disengaged from the arm 26 of the respective operating handles 5, 6 and 7.

Our invention is not limited to the particular devices illustrated, as it may be variously modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as set forth in the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a multi-polar circuit interrupter, the combination with means for closing the individual poles and means for simultaneously tripping all of the poles, of means mounted on one of the poles for holding the common tripping means in its tripping position so long as that pole is open.

2. In a circuit interrupter, the combination with a plurality of separately closable poles, and a common tripping means therefor, of means for precluding the latching closed of the poles in any but a selection of predetermined sequences.

3. In a multi-polar circuit interrupter, the combination with a plurality of actuat ing handles and a single trip bar therefor, of means for holding the tripping bar in its tripping position so long as a predetermined pole is open.

4. In a multi-po1ar circuit interrupter, the combination with a plurality of actuating handles and a single common trip bar therefor, of a cam member associated with one of the poles for maintaining the trip bar in its tripped position when that pole is in its osltion.

5. n a multi-polar circuit interrupter, the

combination with a plurality of actuating handles and a single trip bar therefor, of

means associated with one pole for holding members for holding the tripping means in its operative position under predetermined conditions.

7 In a circuit interrupter, the combination with a plurality of pairs of movable and stationary contact members, means for independently effecting the engagement of the cooperating contact members of the respective airs, and a single means for effecting t e disengagement of the contact members, of means for precluding the latched engagement of certain of the contact members before the engagement, and permitting the selective engagement, of others.

8. In a three-pole circuit interrupter, the combination with independent means for actuating each pole and a single means for tripping all of the poles, of means mounted on one pole for so cooperating with the single tripping means that the other poles cannot be latched closed until the said pole is closed.

9. In a three-pole circuit interrupter, the combination with independent means for actuating each pole and a single means for tripping all of the poles, of means mounted on one pole for so holding the tripping means in its tripping position that the other poles cannot be latched in their closed position until the said pole is closed.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names this 30th day of April, 191

JOSEPH N. MAHONEY. WALTER M. AUSTIN. 

